Sources of American Law
The law is not secret, but it is complex. Many of the processes and procedures in the law have evolved over time. They are a combination of the will of the federal and state governments, longstanding traditions about right and wrong, and society’s values. It is no wonder that finding out what law applies to a particular situation is sometimes puzzling.
This chapter has already discussed several sources of law:
- U.S. Constitutional law
- U.S. federal law
- State constitutional law
- State laws
Now it is time to put these sources in context for the American legal system. This next section discusses the general sources of law and how they relate to one another.
Common Law
The common law is a body of law that is developed through ...
Get Legal and Privacy Issues in Information Security, 3rd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
